2023考研英語閱讀進化和表皮色彩
Evolution and coat colour
進化和表皮色彩
Well spotted
美麗涂鴉
The reason why some cats are plain and others arepatterned
為何有些貓科動物全無斑紋，而其他的則斑斑點點?
How the leopard got his spots is, famously, the subject of one of Rudyard Kipling s Just SoStories.
美洲豹為何滿身斑點?這是吉卜林大作《原來如此》中的一個著名問題。
Kipling suggested they were handprints made by the leopard s human friend. More plausibly,he had an explanation for what the spots are for: to break up the animal s shape when it ishiding in the dappled light of the forest.
吉卜林認為，那是美洲豹的人類朋友們留下的手印。他更靠譜的解釋是，當美洲豹藏身在樹叢的斑駁光影之中，斑點有助于讓它們隱去形跡。
These days, the human-handprinttheory of the leopard s spots has fallen out of favour.
最近，美洲豹斑點的手印理論已不合口味。
Instead, a more prosaic idea has gained ground, based on what is known asreaction-diffusion pattern formation, in which chemicals that trigger the differentiation ofcells in an embryo interact with one another to produce patterns that are then reflected inthe fates of nearby cells.
取而代之并漸為人知的是一種更乏味的觀點：斑點產生于反應-擴散的圖案形成過程，其中，胚胎細胞分化由化學反應引發，各類化學反應之間又發生作用，其作用模式最后在表皮細胞的發育中表現出來。
But that, too, has its difficulties. Just how much a process like this can be shaped by naturalselection is unclear.
但這一說也有其困難，它在多大程度上收到自然選擇的影響，目前尚不清楚。
Reaction-diffusion patterns which can be created in a laboratory using standard reagents aresimple and deterministic.
反應-擴散模式可在實驗室用標準試劑產生簡潔而又有說服力。
That simple reactions of this sort sometimes result in cryptic patterns could be acoincidence.
這類偶爾引發神奇圖案的簡單反應純粹是巧合。
Nevertheless, the details of the patterns produced vary, according to things like how rapidlythe chemicals diffuse.
不過，圖案產生的細節各各不同，依據諸如擴散速度等情形而有差別。
That could be selected. Different cats do, indeed, have different patterns.
這就可加以選擇。確實，不同的貓科動物有不同圖案。
So researchers at the University of Bristol, led by William Allen, have been deconstructingthese patterns, trying to match the elements to cats habits and habitats, and thus showwhether the patterns are evolving.
因此，在威廉姆﹒艾倫的帶領下，布里斯托大學的研究者正在分解這些圖案，并嘗試把圖案要素同貓科動物的習性與棲息地匹配起來，以發現圖案是否會發生進化。
They published their results this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
本周他們在《皇家學會學報》上發表了研究結果。
The reaction-diffusion process can be mimicked by a computer, and the program sparameters manipulated to produce patterns matching those of cat coats.
反應-擴散過程可以用計算機加以模擬，對程序參數也可加控制，以產生同貓科動物外表匹配的圖案。
That, the researchers hoped, might help illuminate what is going on.
研究者希望借此搞清楚到底發生了什么。
They trawled the world wide web for pictures of wild cats, found the best six for each of 37species, and roped in a group of human volunteers to choose which of the program s outputswere most similar to real coats.
他們在互聯網上搜羅野生貓科動物的圖片，為37個貓科物種的每一種都準備了最佳的6張照片，并說服一批人類志愿者來判定：哪個程序的輸出結果和真實的外表最為相似。
The patterns produced had five parameters: how plain they were, how irregular, howcomplex, how big the spots were and whether the pattern had a perceptible direction toit.
為產生圖案設置了5個參數：斑點的有無程度、規則程度、復雜程度、大小程度、是否有明顯的生長位置。
The volunteers judgments about which artificial patterns best matched which natural oneswere almost perfectly consistent.
志愿者關于人工圖案與自然圖案匹配程度的判斷幾乎完美的一致。
That allowed Mr Allen to assess which parameters contribute to each species s pattern,and thus which are correlated with behaviour.
這使艾倫先生可以推斷哪個參數對物種的圖案起了影響，從而進一步同物種行為聯系起來。
The biggest distinctionno surprise, but nice to confirmis that spotted cats are forest catsand plain ones prefer open countryside.
最大的區別發現本身并不出人意料，但推理非常嚴密是：有斑點的貓科動物生活在叢林中，沒有斑點的更偏好生活在開闊的平原地帶。
In that, Kipling was right.
在這點上，吉卜林是對的。
An analysis based on the relationship between the species, though, shows thatevolutionary lines can swap from spots to no spots, and vice versa, as the habitat dictates.
基于物種關系的一個分析表明，進化路線有時是從有斑點到無斑點，有時又反過來，這取決于棲息地在哪里。
Moreover, the more a species prefers the forest, the more irregular the pattern it sports,and the more complex.
并且，如果一個物種越是喜歡叢林生活，圖案就越是不規則，越加復雜對大小和圖案生長位置沒有影響。
Size and direction have no effect.Even among forest-dwellers there are differences.
即使叢林物種之間也不一樣。
Those that tend to spend their time actually in trees, as opposed to wandering around onthe ground between them, have more irregular and complex patterns.
與那些喜歡呆在地上的相比，更多時間呆在樹上的種群，其圖案就更不規則，更加復雜。
And, crucially, there is no relationship between a cat s pattern and how sociable it is.
并且，重要的是在貓科動物的圖案和社群習性之間沒有關聯。
That knocks on the head an alternative explanation for coat patterns, namely that spotsare some form of signal between animals of the same species.
這對關于表皮圖案的另一理論解釋是當頭一擊，此種解釋認為斑點是同一動物種群的共有標記形式。
Mr Allen and his colleagues made one other observation. Some species of cat regularlyproduce melanic formsthe so-called black panther actually a melanic jaguar being themost familiar.
艾倫先生及其同事還作了其他的觀察。某些貓科動物會周期性變成黑色例如大家熟悉的黑豹實際上是黑色的美洲虎。
The data seem to rule out one obvious explanation for melanism: the idea that black cats,with their unusual appearance, have more success hunting because their prey are notkeeping an eye out for predators that look like them.
這一觀察似乎也排除了黑變論的解釋。這種說法是，黑色貓科動物因其不同尋常的外表，而在捕獵方面非常成功，因為它們無須留神被獵物看見。
Melanic forms, though, are particularly prevalent in species with complicated livesthosethat inhabit a range of habitats, are active both day and night, and move between theground and the trees.
可是，黑色外表為各種復雜形式的物種所有，它們棲息在不同地帶、有白天活動的也有黑夜活動的、有在地面生存的也有在樹上生存的。
What advantage melanism brings in these circumstances is obscure.
在這些環境中表皮黑化到底有什么優勢似乎模糊不清。
One for Kipling, perhaps. How the jaguar got his melanocytes.
這問題可能要交給吉卜林了：美洲虎為何是黑色?
詞語解釋
1.evolution n.進化;發展
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallacediscovered evolution independently.
查爾斯達爾文和阿爾弗雷德 羅素華萊士各自獨立地發現了進化論。
Within 30 years,humans could be debating whetherto take charge of their own evolution.
不出30年，人類將討論是否要掌控自身的進化。
Our watchword is: Evolution, not revolution.
我們的口號是: 要循序漸進,不要劇烈變革。
Our political institutions are in continuous evolution.
我們的政治制度正在不斷發展中。
In politics Britain has preferred evolution to revolution.
在政治上，英國喜歡漸進而不喜歡革命。
2.dapple n.斑紋;斑點
The sun shinning through the leaves dappled the ground.
陽光穿過樹葉照在地上，現出一塊塊亮斑。
The dapple of the deer is yellow.
鹿的斑點是黃色的。
3.trigger v.使發生;觸發
Price increases will trigger off demands for wage increases.
價格上漲會激發人們增長工資的要求。
The odour of food may trigger people s appetite.
食物的香味能引起人的食欲。
A detonator is used to trigger an explosive device.
雷管用來引爆爆炸裝置。
4.cryptic a.隱秘的;秘密的
A cryptic message said France needs to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
一個神秘消息要求法國需要從阿富汗撤軍。
I don t know what this cryptic remark is intended to convey.
我不知道這句暗藏玄機的評語是要表示什么。
Evolution and coat colour
進化和表皮色彩
Well spotted
美麗涂鴉
The reason why some cats are plain and others arepatterned
為何有些貓科動物全無斑紋，而其他的則斑斑點點?
How the leopard got his spots is, famously, the subject of one of Rudyard Kipling s Just SoStories.
美洲豹為何滿身斑點?這是吉卜林大作《原來如此》中的一個著名問題。
Kipling suggested they were handprints made by the leopard s human friend. More plausibly,he had an explanation for what the spots are for: to break up the animal s shape when it ishiding in the dappled light of the forest.
吉卜林認為，那是美洲豹的人類朋友們留下的手印。他更靠譜的解釋是，當美洲豹藏身在樹叢的斑駁光影之中，斑點有助于讓它們隱去形跡。
These days, the human-handprinttheory of the leopard s spots has fallen out of favour.
最近，美洲豹斑點的手印理論已不合口味。
Instead, a more prosaic idea has gained ground, based on what is known asreaction-diffusion pattern formation, in which chemicals that trigger the differentiation ofcells in an embryo interact with one another to produce patterns that are then reflected inthe fates of nearby cells.
取而代之并漸為人知的是一種更乏味的觀點：斑點產生于反應-擴散的圖案形成過程，其中，胚胎細胞分化由化學反應引發，各類化學反應之間又發生作用，其作用模式最后在表皮細胞的發育中表現出來。
But that, too, has its difficulties. Just how much a process like this can be shaped by naturalselection is unclear.
但這一說也有其困難，它在多大程度上收到自然選擇的影響，目前尚不清楚。
Reaction-diffusion patterns which can be created in a laboratory using standard reagents aresimple and deterministic.
反應-擴散模式可在實驗室用標準試劑產生簡潔而又有說服力。
That simple reactions of this sort sometimes result in cryptic patterns could be acoincidence.
這類偶爾引發神奇圖案的簡單反應純粹是巧合。
Nevertheless, the details of the patterns produced vary, according to things like how rapidlythe chemicals diffuse.
不過，圖案產生的細節各各不同，依據諸如擴散速度等情形而有差別。
That could be selected. Different cats do, indeed, have different patterns.
這就可加以選擇。確實，不同的貓科動物有不同圖案。
So researchers at the University of Bristol, led by William Allen, have been deconstructingthese patterns, trying to match the elements to cats habits and habitats, and thus showwhether the patterns are evolving.
因此，在威廉姆﹒艾倫的帶領下，布里斯托大學的研究者正在分解這些圖案，并嘗試把圖案要素同貓科動物的習性與棲息地匹配起來，以發現圖案是否會發生進化。
They published their results this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
本周他們在《皇家學會學報》上發表了研究結果。
The reaction-diffusion process can be mimicked by a computer, and the program sparameters manipulated to produce patterns matching those of cat coats.
反應-擴散過程可以用計算機加以模擬，對程序參數也可加控制，以產生同貓科動物外表匹配的圖案。
That, the researchers hoped, might help illuminate what is going on.
研究者希望借此搞清楚到底發生了什么。
They trawled the world wide web for pictures of wild cats, found the best six for each of 37species, and roped in a group of human volunteers to choose which of the program s outputswere most similar to real coats.
他們在互聯網上搜羅野生貓科動物的圖片，為37個貓科物種的每一種都準備了最佳的6張照片，并說服一批人類志愿者來判定：哪個程序的輸出結果和真實的外表最為相似。
The patterns produced had five parameters: how plain they were, how irregular, howcomplex, how big the spots were and whether the pattern had a perceptible direction toit.
為產生圖案設置了5個參數：斑點的有無程度、規則程度、復雜程度、大小程度、是否有明顯的生長位置。
The volunteers judgments about which artificial patterns best matched which natural oneswere almost perfectly consistent.
志愿者關于人工圖案與自然圖案匹配程度的判斷幾乎完美的一致。
That allowed Mr Allen to assess which parameters contribute to each species s pattern,and thus which are correlated with behaviour.
這使艾倫先生可以推斷哪個參數對物種的圖案起了影響，從而進一步同物種行為聯系起來。
The biggest distinctionno surprise, but nice to confirmis that spotted cats are forest catsand plain ones prefer open countryside.
最大的區別發現本身并不出人意料，但推理非常嚴密是：有斑點的貓科動物生活在叢林中，沒有斑點的更偏好生活在開闊的平原地帶。
In that, Kipling was right.
在這點上，吉卜林是對的。
An analysis based on the relationship between the species, though, shows thatevolutionary lines can swap from spots to no spots, and vice versa, as the habitat dictates.
基于物種關系的一個分析表明，進化路線有時是從有斑點到無斑點，有時又反過來，這取決于棲息地在哪里。
Moreover, the more a species prefers the forest, the more irregular the pattern it sports,and the more complex.
并且，如果一個物種越是喜歡叢林生活，圖案就越是不規則，越加復雜對大小和圖案生長位置沒有影響。
Size and direction have no effect.Even among forest-dwellers there are differences.
即使叢林物種之間也不一樣。
Those that tend to spend their time actually in trees, as opposed to wandering around onthe ground between them, have more irregular and complex patterns.
與那些喜歡呆在地上的相比，更多時間呆在樹上的種群，其圖案就更不規則，更加復雜。
And, crucially, there is no relationship between a cat s pattern and how sociable it is.
并且，重要的是在貓科動物的圖案和社群習性之間沒有關聯。
That knocks on the head an alternative explanation for coat patterns, namely that spotsare some form of signal between animals of the same species.
這對關于表皮圖案的另一理論解釋是當頭一擊，此種解釋認為斑點是同一動物種群的共有標記形式。
Mr Allen and his colleagues made one other observation. Some species of cat regularlyproduce melanic formsthe so-called black panther actually a melanic jaguar being themost familiar.
艾倫先生及其同事還作了其他的觀察。某些貓科動物會周期性變成黑色例如大家熟悉的黑豹實際上是黑色的美洲虎。
The data seem to rule out one obvious explanation for melanism: the idea that black cats,with their unusual appearance, have more success hunting because their prey are notkeeping an eye out for predators that look like them.
這一觀察似乎也排除了黑變論的解釋。這種說法是，黑色貓科動物因其不同尋常的外表，而在捕獵方面非常成功，因為它們無須留神被獵物看見。
Melanic forms, though, are particularly prevalent in species with complicated livesthosethat inhabit a range of habitats, are active both day and night, and move between theground and the trees.
可是，黑色外表為各種復雜形式的物種所有，它們棲息在不同地帶、有白天活動的也有黑夜活動的、有在地面生存的也有在樹上生存的。
What advantage melanism brings in these circumstances is obscure.
在這些環境中表皮黑化到底有什么優勢似乎模糊不清。
One for Kipling, perhaps. How the jaguar got his melanocytes.
這問題可能要交給吉卜林了：美洲虎為何是黑色?
詞語解釋
1.evolution n.進化;發展
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallacediscovered evolution independently.
查爾斯達爾文和阿爾弗雷德 羅素華萊士各自獨立地發現了進化論。
Within 30 years,humans could be debating whetherto take charge of their own evolution.
不出30年，人類將討論是否要掌控自身的進化。
Our watchword is: Evolution, not revolution.
我們的口號是: 要循序漸進,不要劇烈變革。
Our political institutions are in continuous evolution.
我們的政治制度正在不斷發展中。
In politics Britain has preferred evolution to revolution.
在政治上，英國喜歡漸進而不喜歡革命。
2.dapple n.斑紋;斑點
The sun shinning through the leaves dappled the ground.
陽光穿過樹葉照在地上，現出一塊塊亮斑。
The dapple of the deer is yellow.
鹿的斑點是黃色的。
3.trigger v.使發生;觸發
Price increases will trigger off demands for wage increases.
價格上漲會激發人們增長工資的要求。
The odour of food may trigger people s appetite.
食物的香味能引起人的食欲。
A detonator is used to trigger an explosive device.
雷管用來引爆爆炸裝置。
4.cryptic a.隱秘的;秘密的
A cryptic message said France needs to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
一個神秘消息要求法國需要從阿富汗撤軍。
I don t know what this cryptic remark is intended to convey.
我不知道這句暗藏玄機的評語是要表示什么。
